On My Mind: My recent benchmarking trip to Boston was very productive. I arrived home with over fifty ideas that I can apply in my business. My tours included the Boston Public Library, Fenway Park, Freedom Trail, Harvard Business School, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the USS Constitution Ship & Museum. Sometimes I encounter people who have a narrow view of benchmarking – that it has to involve an organization in the same industry. Unfortunately, they are missing out on learning opportunities. We can learn from every organization and some of my best benchmarking ideas came from non-management consulting companies. There is so much to learn! Interesting Stories: Carlos Gohsn – the embattled ex-auto industry superstar – has been detained once again in Tokyo. His freedom was short-lived as he faces new charges. Gohsn is mounting a vigorous defense with the help of one of the top lawyers in Japan and he is going on the offensive by accusing Nissan executives of a conspiracy against him. The mighty can fall fast. Gohsn was once one of the most highly respected corporate executives in the world and now he is back in a Tokyo detention center. I hope the legal process eventually reveals the truth about what happened. Stay tuned . . . Company News: I attended the HALICON Conference sponsored by MinneAnalytics on March 29, 2019 at Optum in Eden Prairie, MN. It was another great learning and networking event by MinneAnalytics. The next public Strategic Improvement Systems, LLC courses for the Spring/Summer time frame are the following: Strategy Tools for Strategic Improvement will be held April 30, 2019; Strategic Improvement Green Belt starts May 6, 2019; Basic Statistics & Analytics will be held May 16-17, 2019; Strategic Improvement Black Belt starts May 20, 2019; and Advances in Strategic Planning will be held June 20, 2019. The brochures for these courses are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website. New offerings are in the works including a three day Introduction to Multivariate Data Analysis course. Intriguing Reads: The Harvard Business Review’s book “On AI, Analytics, and the New Machine Age” was recently published. The book contains eleven articles on such topics as AI, algorithms, blockchain, 3-D printing, drones, and augmented reality. My favorite is the article by Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann on “Why Every Organization Needs an Augmented Reality Strategy.” If you want a quick read on some of the new technology developments in the business world and society, then this book is an excellent choice for you.